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Traditional Sprint Car FanSite |
See You At The Races!!! |
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Stroll Down Memory Lane by Norm Bogan |
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Travelling
to so many different racetracks to attend races on an almost weekly basis could
become boring, so we look for new adventures to explore along the way.
Since we were going to be at Santa Maria on Saturday, we thought a trip
to the Central Coast home of Bruce and Marge Bromme, would be a great kickoff to
a good night of racing. I met up
with Ken and Terry Wagner in Santa Maria and then we journeyed together about an
hour north to Paso Robles. The Wags
had visited the Brommes once before, when they still resided in Gardena.
Last year, we traveled to the Templeton ranch of Bruce Jr. and visited
the shop, where the potent #50 sprinter is maintained.
Sharing quarters was the famous Andy Gump car and one of the famous
little red suckers, wheeled by Dean Thompson This
trip, Marge Bromme greeted us at the door of their very comfortable home and
invited us in to view their collection of racing memorabilia.
As you enter the home you are greeted by a collection of scaled down
sprint cars and stock cars. Right
away, you note that Marge is a Ken Schrader fan, as she has nearly every model
of his available. In one bedroom,
there is a large red felt sheet about the size of a comforter lying on a bed. On to this felt, have been sewn, hundreds of driving suit
patches, collected over the years from many drivers. About this time, Bruce Sr. arrived after helping to get the
racecar loaded for tonight's show. He
declared that they were ready for battle and looked forward to tonight's effort. As
we viewed some framed racing posters from places like Legion Ascot, Marge
brought out some photo albums, with many pictures from the 30s and 40s.
Bruce first entered a car at Indy in 1948, with Spider Webb at the wheel. He had been going to Indy since the mid-30s as a mechanic,
working with his Dad, Louis, who was a racing mechanic.
As we viewed photos, many stories unfolded telling about those pictured
and at what track they were taken. There
were pictures of Ted Horn and Rex Mays and many others from that era.
Bruce with his failing sight, would study the photos and then recall many
details. His mind is still quite
keen. One of the photo albums that
I found especially interesting, was devoted to the Andy Gump car, which I had
seen race. Some of the drivers
pictured at the controls of this legend were Paul Jones, Allen Heath, Bob Hogle,
Dean Thompson and Mike Spencer.
There
was a special collage on one wall, which is unique and interesting.
It has the AAA racecar registration plates from some of their cars, plus
some Indy pit passes from AAA. The
passes looked like aviator’s wings, which you pinned on. They were facsimiles
of the Indy logo, the Borg-Warner Trophy, etc. with a number molded on them.
Also in the collage were ear rings that looked like spark plugs from
Champion, a wrench tie clasp from one of the tool companies, a number of AAA
pins and track pins from that era and other similar items that make this a very
special possession. Marge collects several other items, which she shared with us. She has racing t-shirts, each in a zip-lock bag and packed into storage boxes. Also, there are a number of photo albums filled with decals collected over the years, many, I remember from my younger days. She also has Business Card albums, filled with cards from many acquaintances, including many drivers. There are cards from motels where they stayed during their travels, food establishments where they ate and race shops where they worked on their car and bought parts as they traveled the circuit. Recalling
a story that went with one of the many photos; it was 1935 at the Santa Maria
Fairgrounds. Bruce had towed Joe
Hunt's sprinter from Los Angeles with his Model A, using a rope.
The Crew traveled together with Bruce driving, Joe Hunt riding shotgun,
two crewmen in the rumble seat and one steering the racecar. One
of the unique items that are on display is a quarter midget racer, that began
life as a baby stroller for Bruce Jr. and later became a bona-fide racecar with
Dean Thompson at the wheel. Bruce related a number of stories as we viewed photos and I keep thinking, how I would love to have a tape recorder to gather all this information from days gone by. We only spent a couple of hours, but it was indeed a "Stroll Down Memory Lane". The Brommes were so cordial and willing to share and made us feel so comfortable. For me, it was an enjoyable experience. |
